Alcoa's Intalco Smelter Nears Curtailment

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Pittsburgh-based aluminium manufacturer Aloca Corporation announced that it is moving forward with the decision to curtail operations at the Intalco, Whatcom County aluminium smelter.

In a letter addressed to the International Association of Machinists, Roy Harvey, CEO, Alcoa noted that the company’s improvement efforts have not yielded changes that would deliver improvement in competitiveness of the smelter in the foreseeable future. The Intalco smelter reported a loss of $24 million in the initial quarter of the year, he said. It must be noted that the letter comes a week after lawmakers had asked the company to work with the union to find a solution to the plant’s issues.

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Glenn Farmer, business representative, International Association of Machinists Local 2379 District 160 accused Alcoa of not trying hard to save nearly 700 jobs at the smelter. The union reiterated its commitment to work with Alcoa in making the smelter operations competitive. It urged the company to sit with all stakeholders in order to find a solution that would ultimately prevent curtailment of operations at the plant that has been in operation since 1966.

The union presented two options to save the plant- a substantial federal support and a possible takeover of the plant by a financially sound buyer.

Alcoa had announced in April that it plans to curtail operations at the smelter by the end of July this year.